Projectors Reviews, price and comparision

(3.50 out of 5)
Review by will Greenwald • 25 January 2011even if button presses can feel a little slow, the Gear4 UnityRemote is an easy-to-use add-on, that can turn your iPhone or iPod touch-in a universal remote control for your entire home theater system.

Most home theater devices use infrared remote controls. The iPhone and iPod touch have used touch screens, which can change constantly to the needs of the device, but they have no infrared emitters. However, you have Bluetooth, and here comes the $99 (directly) Gear4 UnityRemote in. It is an infrared emitters that wireless to your iPhone or iPod touch can join so that you can use it as a universal remote control to control all your IR-based home-theater equipment.

Design and Setup
The UnityRemote is a simple, 2-inch tall, 2, 5-inch wide black cylinder, which weighs a little 4, 8 ounces, with shiny metal base and a very dark red band around the top, the houses of the infrared emitter. There is a single black power button and a micro USB cable for firmware updates. Everything else is on your iPod touch or iPhone controlled via a Bluetooth connection. The UnityRemote runs on two AA batteries that can be installed by unscrewing the base.

Setup is very easy. Hold the key on the UnityRemote is in pairing mode to connect wirelessly to your iPod or iPhone. Then all you do is to download and install the free UnityRemote app and start it with your home theater components configure. The device itself in line-of-sight with your home theater devices be must, but it casts a wide enough beam, this placement can be flexible. As soon as it in position, but you line of sight between your iPhone or iPod and the device need not, and you can control your components, even if they are behind your home theater cabinet doors.

The UnityRemote comes with code for hundreds of models of TVs, Blu-ray players, DVD players, set-top boxes and other pieces of home theater equipment. The app Setup Wizard, you can scroll through a list of trade marks, select the type of device and then automatically the configuration test, by power of on and turned off by the emitter. If the device on/off turns, you've got the correct code. If not, it moves to the next code for that brand/device type combination. If that doesn't work, you can manually program the device with your own remote control and the app's learning mode. During the test, I was able, the UnityRemote work to program just a few minutes with my LG HDTV and Scientific Atlanta cable box.

Performance
Remote interface is arranged from nine buttons in a square with power and help button is located above and below. The app automatically fills the screen with commonly used keys, expand commands on multiple screens. The first screen of the TV remote - mode may volume and power buttons to enable a mute button and a button to a directional keyboard (that 3 x 3 grid is displayed in one). Second screen with only one stroke can be accessed, and it could have buttons on and guide. If you don't like the app like the buttons, you can customize the entire system, arrange multiple screens used most often own keys, add and remove commands if necessary. In addition to buttons, you can configure actions, macros that run multiple commands across multiple devices. A wizard can configure many of these actions automatically, or you can it manually a list of commands that UnityRemote set the execution. It is a very simple, accessible system that offers much control.

In our PCMag lab tests the Bluetooth connection remained strong at approximately 20 meters, more than enough for the most home theaters. IR range of the UnityRemote was at least 8 m, and its several spotlights allow you to send signals to devices in various parts of the room.

Unfortunately, the UnityRemote is a bit laggy. It will send commands to all devices that you want, but it will take to control a few seconds as were if you are using any dedicated remote device. Convenience helps a distance, which brings the latency between button presses, but the question of priorities.

You can easily shell out several hundred dollars for a touch screen remote control. The Logitech Harmony 1100 ($ 399.99, 3 star) is the best touch screen hardware option to control your home theater without complex installation, but it is extremely expensive. The editors' choice Logitech Harmony one ($ 249.99, 4 star) a combination of touch screen and physical buttons offers form factor for around half of the price, but its more conventional "baton" may disable users who want the futuristic attractiveness of a pure touch screen interface. If you use your iPhone or iPod touch to every aspect of your home theater to control, is the $99 Gear4 UnityRemote a low-cost, simple and optimized solution. It feels somewhat slow, but for some, be a small price to pay for simple all-in-one-touch-screen control of your home theater.

More universal remote reviews:

Simple solid UpHighly ConfigurableDoesn don't need line-of-sight between the iPhone or iPod touch and home cinema DevicesSomewhat slow button presses